Pot Committed Part 1

In the Nov.25, 2008 issue of Card player.

"The Coach" Bob Ciaffone talks about when you should consider yourself "Pot Committed" to a hand in No limit Hold'em.

He starts by defining just what "Pot Committed" is

"In no-limit hold'em, when you are pot-committed, it means that you are going to play out the hand regardless of what your opponent does in the betting or what cards come on the board. You may be hoping that your hand is good or hoping to draw out. Either way, you're not folding."

He then discusses that the times we hold a pair, we have a hand that is going to be difficult to improve. He goes on to warn us of the danger in committing too much money pre flop when we are going to have to hit the flop in order to continue to see the hand though to the end for the rest of our stack.

* odds of flopping a set 1 time in 8
* pot odds = 7 - 1 as a break even point... which works out that you could call off up to 12.5% of your stack with just a small pair.

Now he goes on to tell us the two flaws in playing pairs this way...

1. "It is wrong to assume that you will win everytime you flop a set."

2. "It is wrong to assume that you will always win all of your opponent's chips the times you do flop a set, and do not get out drawn."

His recommended strategy for the times you set mine is

"I do not like to get more than 5 percent or 6 percent of my chips into the pot when I have a pair so small that my game plan is to flop a set or hit the door."

Thoughts?

In cash games, I've recently been told that if your opponents stack size and the price is costs to see a flop when set mining is 12:1, we have proper odds. This calculation makes up for the times we don't get a full stack in the hand. Your thread title is a little misleading but is this what you are asking?

Yes 12-1

He says 12.5

The point of the post is not having proper odds to set mine, but to rather start a discussion on the hands we are willing to see a flop with, and get committed to the pot with.

[quote]1. "It is wrong to assume that you will win every time you flop a set."

2. "It is wrong to assume that you will always win all of your opponent's chips the times you do flop a set, and do not get out drawn.["/quote]

He is saying that he believes that it is much better not to commit such a large portion of your stack, to see the flop on a hand that you may very well end up mucking.